View full sizeMark Bugnaski | Kalamazoo GazetteBesham Brian Sugrim listens as the jury reads the guilty verdict. The Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. jury found Sugrim guilty of first-degree murder in the 2003 death of Linda Kay Gibson.

KALAMAZOO —Besham Brian Sugrim is guilty of first-degree murder in the death of prostitute Linda Kay Gibson, whose stabbed and brutally beaten body was found in 2003, a Kalamazoo County jury decided today.

Jurors spent six hours deliberating on whether Sugrim, 35, was guilty of the murder.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9.

The centerpiece of Assistant Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Stuart Fenton's case was the testimony of Sugrims' wife, Bernadette, who said her husband admitted to her that he killed Gibson. Sugrim was a domineering, abusive husband and father, according to Bernadette Sugrim, which is why she didn't tell police of her husband's confession to her until May 2011 she feared for her life and the lives of her children.

Gibson, 39, was working as a prostitute when she was murdered. Her body, stabbed and badly beaten, was found in a secluded industrial area in Kalamazoo's Edison neighborhood. There initially were numerous suspects in the case, including a pimp.

The jury came to its verdict after reviewing evidence dug up from the Sugrim's former back yard and testimony of some 40 witnesses called by the prosecutor. Witnesses testified about Sugrim's bombastic temper, criminal history and attempts to avoid detection after Gibson's murder, including him going to stay with relatives in New York state.

Also introduced into evidence were multiple letters Sugrim wrote to his wife and others, including Kalamazoo Gazette reporter Rex Hall Jr., while he was in jail. During an prison interview with Hall, he admitted to being with Gibson the night she was killed but said another man was there and that he never saw Gibson again after she left his van.

The van in which prosecutors say Sugrim committed the murder disappeared shortly after the murder.